You’ll Never Believe What I Saw in the Airport!

PublishedJuly 24, 2018

We were walking down (yet another) passageway in Schiphol Airport that was full of tired and grumpy passengers much like ourselves when we came upon a strange sight. It! was strange even for an airport, where I’m sure you’ll agree you can experience some very strange things

There, in a neat row, were a number of exercise bikes. Yes, in the middle of the airport. What’s more, people were queuing to use them. You don’t believe me? Well, read on…

One of the worst parts of overseas travel is how much time you spend in airports. Apart from the constant “hurry up and wait” aspect that sees travellers rushing from one place to another to stand around waiting for their flights, most airport activity tends not to be what I’d consider healthy – lots of eating, shopping, and sitting around. So it really seemed out of character to see people so eager to climb on an exercise bike in the middle of an airport. I mean, I knew cycling was popular in Holland, but this just seemed extreme.

Then everything was explained – these exercise bikes had been converted to let people charge their mobile phones…

And that was why tired, grumpy passengers were standing around waiting for a chance to clamber onto the machines. It had absolutely nothing to do with health or exercise – simply the desire to send one more WhatsApp.

And, as a totally unforeseen side-effect, they also lifted the tired grumpiness of one passenger just a little by giving me something to laugh about. But then, my iPhone battery still had charge…